Riverside waives bidding to buy 45 EV chargers from a local manufacturer

The council voted unanimously to buy 45 public chargers from Chaevi Co. Ltd. for $1.96 million and to add $3 million to a Riverside Public Utilities rebate program covering installation. The money comes from RPU's Low Carbon Fuel Standard reserve, a state credit account that must be spent on transportation electrification. At least half has to go to disadvantaged communities under state rules, and it reverts to the reserve if unspent within three years.

The bid waiver is where the council split. That vote was 6-1, with Council member Jim Perry dissenting. The stated basis: a Nov. 4, 2025 agreement with Chaevi under which the city committed to consider buying at least 45 chargers as part of its sustainability and economic-development goals — in other words, the purchase was set in motion months before the formal buy.

That sequence drew the objection. One resident wrote that the city appeared to be building a funding mechanism to support a purchase already settled through the Chaevi agreement, arguing public procurement exists to find the best solution through open competition, not to name a vendor and justify it later.

For operators, the tension under this is the part worth watching. Chaevi's manufacturing headquarters are in Riverside, so the waiver isn't only a convenience question — it's the city favoring a local producer it has separately courted. That is a defensible economic-development play and a departure from open-bid discipline at the same time, and which one a given operator sees depends on whether they're the favored local employer or the vendor who never got to bid.

The chargers are headed to libraries, community centers, City Hall, the Convention Center, and the airport. Drivers will pay to use them, with fees set to cover e